Fully Methylammonium-Free Stable Formamidinium Lead Iodide Perovskite Solar Cells Processed under Humid Air Conditions

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 15; no. 10; pp. 13353 - 13362
• Main Authors: Wang, Kun, Huo, Jiangwei, Cao, Li, Yang, Peihui, Müller-Buschbaum, Peter, Tong, Yu, Wang, Hongqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 15.03.2023
• Subjects: air; cations; commercialization; crystal structure; crystallization; Functional Inorganic Materials and Devices; iodides; lead; relative humidity; fully MA-free; α-FAPbI3 film; PEAI incorporation; inverted perovskite solar cells; fabrication in humid air
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c23134

Fabricating perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in ambient air condition is beneficial for lowering the processing cost and boosting the commercialization. Formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) is an attractive candidate for efficient PSCs; however, it easily suffers from degradation and phase transition in the presence of ambient moisture. Methylammonium (MA) cation is commonly incorporated to stabilize FAPbI3, whereas the residual MA tends to deteriorate the thermal and operational stability. Herein, we report a MA-free strategy to fabricate high-quality α-FAPbI3 films and inverted PSCs under open air conditions with a relative humidity (RH) of 60 ± 10%. The incorporation of phenylethylammonium iodide (PEAI) effectively inhibits the decomposition and phase transition of FAPbI3 during its crystallization in humid air. Accordingly, phase-pure α-FAPbI3 perovskite films with significantly reduced δ-FAPbI3 and PbI2 content are successfully obtained. In addition, introducing PEAI strongly enhances the crystallinity of FAPbI3 perovskite films, thereby yielding enlarged grain sizes and reduced grain boundaries. Defects at the grain boundaries and surface are further passivated by PEAI addition, so that the trap state density is significantly decreased. As a result, the non-radiative recombination is effectively suppressed and the charge carrier transport is promoted. The inverted device optimized with a suitable PEAI concentration exhibits an enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.83%, which significantly surpasses the control device (12.29% PCE). Moreover, the PEAI optimized FAPbI3 PSCs demonstrate strongly improved long-term stability, with nearly 97% PCE maintained after 27-day storage under ambient conditions. This work provides a feasible way to fabricate PSCs in ambient air for promoting their wide range of applications.